At the Menorca Masters 2026, reigning world champion De Gokesh suffered a setback, losing to compatriot Nihal Sarin in the third round.Gokesh arrived in Menorca as a two-time champion, but his current form paints a very different picture. His troubles began early. Nihal. With the ninth move, Gokesh made a questionable decision at the start, moving his queen back to c7 instead of opting for a queen exchange. This move initiated Nihal. The Kerala-based grandmaster immediately activated his black-squared bishop with Bf4, followed by the e4 pawn, continuing to build central control and pressure.Sensing the momentum, Nihal stepped up the attack with Bg6, targeting Gokesh’s bishop and destabilizing his defenses. Under pressure, Gokesh faltered again, playing Qd7 in an attempt to hold onto his position. But Nihal responded with precision, attacking with e5 to eliminate the knight on f6 before capturing Gakesh’s active light-squared bishop.At that point, the game tilted strongly in Nihal’s favor, with evaluation engines showing a significant advantage (+1.71).Fully aware of Gokesh’s resilience under pressure, Nihal left no chance. Once he gained control, he tightened his grip. Advancing his h-pawn, he launched a coordinated kingside attack. Gradually, Gokesh’s position deteriorated, his pieces fell apart, space became limited, and counterplay was non-existent. By the move of 34, with no viable defense left, Gokesh resigned.All the moves of Gokesh vs Sarin match: 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Bf5 4. c4 e6 5. Nc3 c6 6. Nh4 Be4 7. f3 Bg6 8. Qb3 Qb6 9. c5 Qc7 10. Bf16 Qd47. 13. e5 Ng8 14. Nxg6 hxg6 15. OOO Bd8 16. h4 Ne7 17. Bh3 Nc8 18. f4 b6 19. Kb1 a5 20. Qc2 bxc5 21. dxc5 Na6 22. a3. B2c7427. 25. Ne2 Nb8 26. Nd4 Nd7 27. Bd3 a4 28. Rde1 Ra5 29. f5 Nf8 30. Rhf1 gxf5 31. gxf5 Rxh4 32. fxe6 Nxe6 33. Nxe6 fxe6 34.After being drawn against Leinier Domínguez Pérez and Ruslan Ponomariov in the opening rounds, this marked his first defeat of the tournament.For Nihal, the victory marked a strong start. He had previously defeated Pantala. Hari Krishna And a draw with Domínguez Pérez, he held the sole lead with two points from three rounds. It is now difficult to ignore the inconsistent trajectory of India’s young stars. While Nihal has been steadily progressing in classical chess, improving his ranking and consistency, Gokesh is experiencing an unusual slump after climbing to the top as world champion.In fact, Menorca could be among the last few marquee events Gokesh plays this year. The Grandmaster from Chennai has chosen to push back his schedule as he prepares to defend his title in late 2026. As part of this strategy, he has also withdrawn from the Grand Tour of Chess.
Overall results after the 5th round of Menorca Masters (Image: Chess.com)
